It was tough start for Sound Snipings (SS) today. Baliwasan and its immediate environs were power-less the whole morning. Had to motor to the nearest internet shop, where there is electricity to do the regular surfing for newsworthy items. First stop was Tetuan, finding only three shops, with all still closed. Motored farther passing through the Tetuan Jumbo Bridge at ICAS, finding only one. It was only there, that the surfing was done. Returned to our Bali workshop - where the net is yet deactivated - to pound on the keyboard, utilizing an alternative power source, an inverter. Tough time. using the But here goes.

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In asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its order for the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to issue receipts to voters, the Commission warned that utilization of the safety features in the Vote Count Counting Machines (VCMs) - the “dog now collared differently” - could lead to a failure of elections.

At this very late stage of the of the electoral process, the poll body claimed of a strong likelihood that the May 2016 elections will fail if the voting receipt feature is enabled by them.

Ha ha ha, such folly an alibi. They are election officers - lawyers at that! - they knew that the use of the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) feature of the vote counting machines to be used for the polls is a mandate of law, yet, they purchased machines incompatible with the safety features.

This administration is fixated to cheating, that’s why.

They only have to revert back to manual counting. Problem is solved. Credibility of the polls is assured.

If this was done in 2013, no Team Pinoy here could have put down this keyboardist, who was undefeated in all previous council elections, twice topping two of the exercises. Placing 2nd, 3rd and in 4th in three. With only the 1995 election, a slot ahead of the tail-ender.

But that was explainable. After an absence of about a year in Zamboanga, it was barely some three months before the elections that I returned from the States. With very little resources and very little time for preparations, capped by the fact that I was running with a rag-tag party of Boying Lopez and Rini Climaco that was up against the formidable coalition of Ma’am Caling Lobregat and Vit Agan. It was really a tough fight.

Still and all, in that election - except for two who survived with a win apiece,Jan Bruno and yours truly - all in our group were wiped out.

But with PCOS, I stood no Chinaman’s chance, I admit.

And even in the election protest that ensued, this representation was still cheated. Of the three clustered precincts under protest, one - that of Cabatangan - was discovered during canvassing time, already opened with no notice to me nor to my counsel. That was where I was slaughtered the second time around.

In the house of Alvin Adam and Sandra Adam, the raiders discovered an improvised shotgun with five rounds of ammunition, three medium sachets of suspected shabu and several drug paraphernalia.

That of Abdul Asanan yielded a slot machine.

A third police operation was conducted in Texas, Licomo. Led by Chief Insp. Salvador Galvez, backed by army troops, the police against some target personalities.

The Galvez team, armed with a search warrant raided the house of a certain Sidang where it netted 17 sachets of suspected shabu, a grenade, one short magazine of M 16 with 10 rounds of ammunition, a .38 cal. revolver with six rounds of ammunition, and two cell phones.

In another house, owned by a Toto Punkol Limucon, confiscated were illegal items consisting of a .38cal. revolver with nine rounds of ammunition, two rifle grenades, short magazine for M16 with ammunition.

The same Galvez raiding team also searched the house of Bobby Samson, where they captured a . 45 cal. pistol, a magazine with ammunition, six sachets of shabu and two strips of aluminum foil.

The Divisoria Police Station led by Chief Insp. Arlan Delumpines also carried out a similar operation at Valley Subdivision in Divisoria that resulted in the arrest of Muhaimin Ali y Lopez, 22 and his brother Khadafy Ali y Lopez, 28.

Found in their possession were one medium size, one small size of suspected shabu, knife and drug paraphernalia.

That is what is called action. Go go, men.

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The camp of Vice President and presidential candidate Jejomar Binay’s camp says, the Commission Audit (COA) conducted 11 audits from 2008 to 2014 and found that there was no overpricing in the construction of the Makati City Hall Building 2 (a carpark).

COA documents, including one conducted by the agency’s own technical experts, are now being ignored in favor of a fast-tracked supposed special audit report that is tainted with political motives, according to Tobias Tiangco, president of the Binay-led United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).

Speaking in Pilipino, Tiangco deplored, when it comes to Binay, COA is fast but until now, there are no COA findings on the use of the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAP) of the Aquino administration since 2010. It has been almost six years but we do not see even a mere shadow of that report, he noted.

Tiangco warned, COA can be held liable for allegedly violating its resolution and its own rules for supposedly releasing an incomplete audit report on the Makati City Hall Building 2.

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Sen. Grace Poe believes otherwise and took a sharp snipe at her closest rival in the presidential race, saying the Commission on Audit (COA) report finding VP Binay liable for irregularities in the construction of a Makati building was strong evidence against him.

Poe expressed belief that, as a candidate for president, the allegations must be answered.

She was one of the senators who had signed a Blue Ribbon subcommittee report recommending graft and plunder charges against Binay for the alleged overprice of the Makati City Hall Building 2. On the release of the COA report, Poe said it was just right that the results of the Senate probe have equivalent proof from the audit agency.

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Vice presidential candidate Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. believes that his tandem with presidential aspirant Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago will benefit from what he predicts as a protest vote-dominated May 9 elections.

The protest votes in the coming elections will dominate the air, he said, because the government has abandoned real public service, offering his desire to unite the people and come up with better service, including private practices. Marcos added, protest voting is a result of the people’s frustration with the government, a problem he and Santiago are aware of.

He and Santiago are slated to hold a sortie this Sunday in Iloilo City, Santiago’s bailiwick.

TMT quoted him saying, “My presidential candidate will introduce me to her fellow Ilonggos. I am confident that Iloilo residents will welcome me just like in the past places we visited.”

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Good news for SS, as of writing time. There will be no more need to motor back to Guiwan to e-mail this piece upon conclusion. Just got word from Dist. 5 Zamcelco Director Wil Bazan that after some repair works, the San Jose Gusu power station is set to switch power on, lifting the power outage in Baliwasan and neighboring barangays since early this morning..

In command of the of the work there, Bazan reports, are Engrs. Razel Sitchon, Rainier Dueñas and Bernardo Luis.